The document provides an overview of mindfulness and its application to academic supervision, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness, presence, and non-judgment in supporting HDR students. It discusses the benefits of mindfulness practices and offers practical tips for supervisors to enhance their mentoring relationships. Additionally, it highlights the risks of commodifying mindfulness and the need for thoughtful integration into academic environments.

1. Mindfulness, Supervision and
Finding our Zen
A/Prof Narelle Lemon
Department of Education, FHAD
nlemon@swin.eduau @rellypops

2.  Outline
 Context
 What is mindfulness?
 14 Top Tips
 Putting this into action for you
 Q&A
 Assumptions:
 Not telling you how to do it, rather principles or tips....it’s your discovery, find what works for you.

3. Contemporary HE context
 Policy technologies of performativity, the market and managerialism (Ball, 2003).
 Culture of measurement that reduces the “complex human processes of academic
labour to simplified targets and outcomes” (Sutton, 2017, p. 628).
 Competitive individualized nature assumes a “carelessness” of workers without ties,
responsibilities or care of self (Lynch, 2010).
 In this frenetic, accelerated space the time for contemplation and insight is sacrificed.
 Being a well rounded academic – L&T, Research, Service, Engagement & Leadership.

4. HDR students think our time is…
100…

5. Reality
3%
97%

6. HDR students talk about Wrangling the
Octopus or the Valley of Shit…but…
The Valley of Shit is
that period of your
PhD, however brief,
when you lose
perspective and
therefore confidence
and belief in yourself.

7. … the supervisor has this as well…

8. Tension exists….
 What can we do?
 Strategies to help us look like we are 100% to the HDR student (we might be 95% but…)
 Mindfulness one way?
 We need to find our Zen!
 Managing our self as much as the HDR student.

9. Mindfulness – what is it?
 Mindfulness practices are about
slowing down the mind. About
emptying them and being present in
the moment. It is about caring for
your body and your feelings (Thich
Nhat Hanh, 2017).
 Present
 Self-aware
 Non-judgmental
 Compassion
 Care
 Kindness
 Gratitude
 Curiosity

10. There are 3 principle components to mindfulness (Shapiro et al., 2006) that can support the
integration of concepts. These include:
1. Intention (actual practice – knowing where the attention is, prioritising where the
attention needs to be).
2. Attention (actual practice – becoming fully aware of our moment-to-moment internal
experience).
3. Attitude (the way mindfulness is approached – ideally with acceptance, kindness and
curiosity).

11. Summary of what mindfulness can look like
Mindfulness approach Example
Formal practices Mediation (e.g.: body scan, grounded mediation, breathing
exercises, etc.), mindful movement (e.g.: yoga, pilates, etc.).
Informal practices Breathing techniques, visualisations, mindful movement (e.g.:
walking), mindful eating, and application of areas as part of day to
day interactions that are about increasing awareness and
responding skilfully to mental processes.

12. Dr Craig Hassed and Dr Richard Chambers (2014) in their book ‘Mindful Learning’ talk about
three areas to work towards enlightenment in regards to the workplace (p. 262):
 Be aware and accepting of what we are working on, no matter what we think.
 Treat others as we would like to be treated, no matter what we think of them.
 Helping others work towards where we need to get by helping others work toward
where they need to get.

13. Practicing mindfulness on a regular basis
has been shown to:
 Help gain insight into yourself & your relationship with others
 Help you cultivate inner confidence and resilience
 Bring a sense of calm
 Bring awareness to yourself & your surroundings
 Become less reactionary
 Support a sense of different perspectives
 Bring noticeable improvements in well-being
 Reduce anxiety & stress

14. Challenges
 Danger of the commodification of mindfulness where it is operationalized as a tool to subdue
workers into compliance (Purser & Milillo, 2015).
 Rise of McMindfulness (Purser & Loy, 2013)– short term interventions designed to ease
employee stress but without considering the broader structural conditions and inequities
which lead to stress in the first place
 The separation of the Buddhist traditions of mindfulness from contemporary secular
mindfulness approaches in organisations.
 Individual reductionistic views of mindfulness: “individualistic and superficial spirituality is
reductionistic in that it sees human beings as instrumental ends, ‘human resources’ to be
managed to improve productivity” (Driscoll & Wiebe, 2007, p. 339).
 Mindfulness is not ethically neutral, rather, has a key focus on civic, political and ethical
responsibility.

15. Ways to map mindfulness – what is missing?
 Differences in ways mindfulness is conceptualized and practiced.
 Focus on psychological scales to measure mindfulness rather than developing on multiple ways to
“express and make explicit what mindfulness is” (Forbes, 2012, p. 6).
 Need a focus that acknowledges the intersection of cultural context, interpersonal dynamics and
inclusivity.
 Research must include “both individual and institutional analysis” (Purser & Milillo, 2015).
 Mindfulness often associated to mediation … but we can be mindful without mediation, and
meditate without mindfulness.

16. What mindfulness isn’t
 All about mediation.
 A 1-hour class just offered by the work place nor a just an 8-week course - they are starting points.
 We also need to be mindful of being told to attend mindfulness sessions by human resources (HR)
or a manager.
 Being told to attend will not usually encourage engagement or meaning.
 Subsequently, raising matters of commodified and operationalisation of mindfulness as a tool to subdue
workers into compliance (Ivtzan, & Lomas, 2016; Lemon & McDonough, in press).
 It is not to be used in an instrumental way to enable academics to become more productive.
 It is a not a one size fits all. It is not a script.

17. Mindfulness is about the now, slowing down, and
being in the moment…
 As we consider the place of mindfulness
as academics in how we look at our
wellbeing, being self-aware and present
lends itself to considering our own
strengths – or what makes us excited
and energized.
 Mindfulness does allow you the space to
look at all the aspects differently,
however, and to look at them with
curiosity and openness. Mindfulness is a
way of being. It comes from the heart. It
comes from an individual. It comes from
a way of being and experiencing the
world. It develops over time and can look
different for different people. It can be
an informal practice, formal practice,
or a combination of both. (Lemon &
McDonough, 2018, Chapter 17)

18. Tip #1
 Self-awareness of commitment
 Consideration of taking on of HDR students and topics
 Are they aligned to your work? Do you have to learn more about the topics? Are you excited? Are you curious?
 Time
 Can you dedicate time to the HDR student, topic, etc. ?
 What are your boundaries
 After hours? Email communication patterns? Meeting schedules and routines? Alignment to projects/scholarships?

19. Tip #2
 Being present during meetings and the time with HDR students
 Support a re-conceptualisation of traditional supervision behaviour within a reflective awareness
model which is open, expansive and non-judgmental.

20. Tip #3
 Build relationships
 What is it you expect as a supervisor? How do you communicate this? How do you negotiate this?
 How does your student want to work?
 Mentor/mentee discussion at beginning
 What happens when it goes pear shape? What’s the protocol?
 Communication style. How will email work? Phone? Text? Social media?
 How do we support peer to peer learning?
 It is not your PhD! (ownership tension)
 HDR student life (as it is revealed…what’s going on)

21. Some insights…

23. Tip #4
 Awareness of when planning meetings in
your schedule.
 Self-awareness is a key to mindfulness. Put
‘very simply, one of the first impacts of
practicing mindfulness can be the capacity to
move out of an aroused, activated, stressed
state into a calmer reflective, regulated state’
(OpenGround Training and Consulting, 2016,
p. 12)

24. Tip #5
 Perspective given during times of feedback (drafts and
during meetings)
 What’s the approach you use?
 How do you scaffold feedback? How are layers
approached? Grammar, structure, content, flow, repeat
advice? Hand written or track changed?
 What’s the language you use to scaffold?
 5:1 positive : negative balance to build resources – but
often more emotion to decode negative so this is
remembered
 TIP: one of the HDR students biggest fears is letting go
of writing and receiving feedback = judgement, worry,
not ‘doing it right’, etc.

25. Tip #6
 Curiosity at the blockers presented by the
HDR students
 Writing blocks
 Process
 Topic (may not be in your direct area)
 Ride the wave

26. Tip #7
 Care but do not do the emotional heavy lifting
 Utilise the services of the university to support the HDR student
 We are working with adults
 Can listen but can’t do it for them
 Protect yourself – be present but keep notes

27. Tip #8
 Listen non-judgmentally
 Fear, anger, frustration, resentment, blaming, silence, stories…all tell us something
 Connection to values and expectations
 It is unpleasant to notice unpleasant feelings…it’s ok

28. Robert Plutchik’s
wheel of emotions

29.  Mini connection to breath strategy:
 Breath (deep/gut), notice, label, watch without judgement
 Don’t wear
 Don’t try to problem solve and find solutions
 Inquire….tell me more about that? Why would that be? What do you mean by that?

30. Tip #9
 Learn how to best utilise time together
 From a space of curiosity negotiate
 What meetings will look like
 How often will they be?
 Feedback loop?
 When will writing be submitted?
 What are the responsibilities?

31. Tip #10
 Mutual respect
 We are working with adult learners – they can be leaders, they are living in two worlds (they are an expert
at work/ within sector v university world where they are a learner and beginning again)

32. Tip #11
 Connect to breath
 Savouring of the moment – thinking about now, not yesterday or tomorrow.
 Connection to breath strategy: Mindful moment 4-7-8
 Breathe in slowly over 4 seconds.
 Hold your breath for 7 seconds.
 Release your breath slowly over 8 seconds, counting in your head and exhaling at the same time.
 Repeat.

33. Tip #12
 Book yourself
 Book out time in your diary to provide feedback
and share back.
 Be mindful of your time and all your commitments.
 Establish meetings repeats (e.g.: 1st Tues of Month)
and book for the year

34. Tip #13
 Always learn and be curious and open
 Today’s student maybe tomorrow’s colleague

35. Tip #14
 Mindfully plan
 What does the HDR candidature roadmap look like for your student? When does it need to be adjusted?
 Be on top of the dates.
 Plan ahead for milestones and panels, have these arranged ahead of time so they are not a surprise for you
and your diary and for those involved

36. Putting this into action
 What are two concepts you will take away with you today that you can/or want to apply to your
approach to supervision?

37. Q&A
 What else would you like to know about?
 How can we help each other?
 What might you take away right now and
apply?